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Residents hit the polls Tuesday to cast ballots for a new state senator to represent the east side of the Santa Clarita Valley in the Legislature.

Santa Clarita Polls Open For New State Senator Ballots

Residents hit the polls Tuesday to cast ballots for a new state senator to represent the east side of the Santa Clarita Valley in the Legislature.


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Knight, who held the 21st District state Senate seat, replaced Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, in the 25th Congressional District in early November, leaving his seat open in the Legislature. 

Sharon Runner is the only candidate to file for a seat in the special election for California’s 21st Senate District, but there are six other write in candidates.

The six write in candidates are:

Democratic: Joshua Conaway, Steve Hill, and Richard E. Macias

Republican: Jerry J Laws

No Party Preference: Joshua C. Chandler, and Jason Zink. 

Runner, a 60-year-old Republican from Lancaster, represented portions of the 21st Senate District in 2011 and 2012 when it was differently numbered and configured. From 2002 to 2008 she served in the state Assembly. 

The district includes the majority of the Santa Clarita Valley as well as the Antelope, Victor and Apple valleys. Southwestern portions of the SCV are represented by Sen. Fran Pavley, a Democrat.

Visit here to find out where to vote.

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Previous story from SCV News about Sharon Runner: 

Runner was a driving force behind the passage of Proposition 83 in 2006, the California version of Jessica’s Law. It increased the penalties for sex offenders and reclassified certain crimes as sexual offenses.

The last time Sharon Runner was elected to the Senate, it was to complete the unexpired term of another person who had been elected to higher office – her husband, George Runner, who was elected to the state Board of Equalization.

Two years later, in 2012, Sharon Runner opted not to seek a full Senate term after learning she would need a double lung transplant. She had been diagnosed with limited scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that attacks the body’s healthy tissue and organs.

She had the transplant in early 2012.

“We are thrilled with Sharon’s rapid progress,” her doctor, David Ross, Medical Director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program at UCLA, said at the time. “Her new lungs will enable her to resume normal activities and responsibilities soon.”

Runner said her recovery is complete and she’s ready to return to Sacramento to “combat the job-killing over-regulation, over-taxation and the dangerous situation created by early release of felons by Prop. 47 and realignment.”

Earlier this month, Gov. Jerry Brown set a date of May 19 for the special election, following a March 17 primary. The special election was to follow California’s “top two” procedure, but that appears to be moot at this point.

Several names had been tossed around in recent weeks as potential candidates, but most ended up endorsing Runner’s bid, including Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, Hesperia Mayor Eric Schmidt, Lancaster Vice Mayor Marvin Crist and Santa Clarita Councilman Dante Acosta, who is also a field deputy to Knight.

Late last week two Democrats who had previously sought the seat – Darren Parker, who lost to Runner in 2010, and Star Moffatt, who lost to Knight in 2012 – publicly announced their decision not to run.

A one time Realtor, Sharon Runner founded Desert Christian Schools with her husband in 1977. She volunteered on numerous community and business boards, and her first political position came in 1998 when then-Gov. Pete Wilson appointed her to the Antelope Valley Fair board. 

SCV News contributed to this story.

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Santa Clarita Polls Open For New State Senator Ballots

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About Kimberly Beers

Kimberly Beers is a Santa Clarita native. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from California State University, Northridge in 2013. While attending the university, she focused her attention on news writing and worked as a primary news writer for the campus' award winning radio station and televised news program. She began writing news stories for KHTS in 2014 and hopes to have a lifetime career dedicated to writing and sharing the news